To Save
by Kyo12591
Summary: The act of saving someone, the knowledge of death, the acceptance of death, and the irony of that day. The day Sakura Haruno knew she would die. One-shot


**WARNING: Character death. **

**Disclaimer: It's not mine. I own only these words, not Naruto. I own only my imagination, and I do not get paid for it.**

**~~Kyo~~**

_**To Save**_

**XxXxxXxxXxxXxX**

_They say death happens quickly. That it takes you by surprise, that it's over quickly and that every pain and worry goes away. They say that. But it wasn't true._

_Death hurts like hell. It isn't slow, and it isn't by surprise. _

She knew that her team was being watched. She knew that this mission could go sour at any time. She knew that two of her teammates didn't know they were even being followed, and the one that did besides her was ready to fight at any moment. Yet he knew as well as she did, that this one mission they may not make it back from.

It was a mission, find the criminal, bring him in. Things had went bad from the start. The man killed himself, after killing one of them, her teammate, that she couldn't save, that she was in charge of, that she let die.

They were on their way back to Konoha with a failed mission and one dead. It wasn't her first failed mission, or her first death on the field. It wasn't her first time leading a mission, and it wasn't the first time they had been ambushed. Yet she knew with out a doubt they would not make it back to Konoha.

She knew with out a doubt that she would die here with her teammates, and that those back home would never know what happened to them, never know until they found their bodies, if they were ever found. She would be put on the memorial stone and her friends would look at her name, and the name of her teammates and not know who killed them, why, or how.

There were so many things she wanted to see, to do, so many things she wanted to say. Yet she knew they would never come out. She would never be able to tell anyone. She would never be able to see anything, know any thing, be anything. Do _anything_. She would die here and it would be her fault that her teammates would die as well.

It wasn't lack of skill that they would die, they would fight their hardest no doubt, but even she knew it was pointless. She had barely lived through the first fight she had against Akatsuki. And only she had come out of it alive. She knew she wouldn't be lucky this time.

They weren't just getting followed by Akatsuki, they were being followed by the criminal who killed himself's group. His partners. Two enemies and only four of them. ANBU or not they stood no choice. Two of their teammates were only Jounin, one training to be a medic, the other training to get into ANBU. Their first mission of S-class proportion.

She had left Naruto at home with the promise to return as she always did every mission. She said she would come back safe and sound. Yet this time she wouldn't come back. He would wait for her weeks, months, maybe even years if they didn't find their bodies, not knowing if she would ever return, not knowing if any of them would come back.

Tears pricked at her eyes as the Akatsuki made their presence known. For now the rouge nin were holding back, perhaps to see if Akatsuki would finish them, or who would win. Four Akatsuki came out of the bush. She knew them all not only from battles in the past or bingo books, because most of them she lost men and woman to.

Hidan the immortal of Akatsuki. Deidara the ex-bomber for hire, She had killed his partner. Tobi the orange masked new member of Akatsuki whom happened to be an Uchiha. And Kakazu. She knew almost nothing about him except he used tentacle like things that spewed from his body.

They faced off. Deidara sneering at her, no doubt angry at her for killing his partner. Thus she knew he would came after her. Kakashi faced off against Tobi, the Uchiha.

Hinata and Tenten were on their own with Kakazu but Sakura would make sure Hidan the immortal would not go near the two girls. Her friends. Hinata had Naruto to go home to, Tenten had Neji to go home to. Kakashi and her were the only ones with no one to go home to. Yet people would miss them. Naruto would miss them, Tsunade would miss them. Yet no one would be able to cease to exist with out them.

Stupid her for waiting for Sasuke all those years, stupid her for pushing herself into her work forgetting about love. She had never had the chance to find someone else. So it would figure Sasuke would be her first and obviously only shot at love. Sakura figured it was better that way anyway. Sasuke wouldn't miss her, and had she left someone back home like Hinata or Tenten they would be devastated.

It was better that she was single. Kakashi would be missed as well. She would miss him, thought she would die so perhaps someone else, maybe even Sasuke would miss him when he found out about his death. Who knew. Sakura had many regrets but knew there was no point going through them now. She would have help with Hidan by Kakashi he gave her the nod for that, they had to keep Hinata and Tenten safe not only for Neji and Naruto's sake, but because they were the Jounin it was ANBU's job to protect. They would protect even if it meant their lives.

Hopefully only the two of them would die tonight, not Hinata or Tenten. She would make sure they escaped some how.

Thus the battled began. She had knew it would be difficult to fight with Deidara when he was long distance and she needed up close to fight. She constantly dodged some bomb or another while trying to help Kakashi fight Hidan. Kakashi was busy with Tobi who was giving him a run for his money.

How can you kill an immortal? Hell Shikamaru and Kakashi had tried once already when he killed Asuma. They buried him in a hole and yet the Akatsuki found him and being immortal the idiot wasn't dead, thus here he was again. What did they have to do to get rid of him when he couldn't die?

Sakura couldn't land a hit to Deidara because he never was close enough, and dodging bombs, and trying to keep Hidan from getting to Tenten and Hinata was trouble enough, with out trying to hit Deidara at the same time.

Every time she got closer he exploded a bomb and she was forced back several yards. She couldn't even look back to see how Hinata and Tenten were doing. She didn't know much about Kakazu's jutsu so she couldn't really help them. She could hear the sounds of Tenten's weapons but she couldn't hear much else, her ears were ringing from the explosives going off so close to her ears.

She fought on doing her best to land at least one hit, to get close enough o land one hit after landing one hit on Hidan who was knocked through a few trees and was starting to get up, beginning to draw a blood circle with his weapon. Sakura didn't like the look of that.

She needed to hurry. If she could take out Deidara then she could deal with Hidan, and then Kakashi could have more time to actually fight with Tobi. Even if she lost against Hidan she would have eliminated one Akatsuki, if Hinata and Tenten took care of Kakazu then she would make them run.

So she fought hard giving it her all just to land one hit on the blond bomber and take him out. It would only take one hit to kill him, one hit with her chakra laced fist. She was a medic after all she could make ones brain explode with little a chakra applied to the forehead. Yet she couldn't get close enough. Perhaps she could try that with Hidan later. Though from what she knew about Hidan.

His ritual that he was doing now would kill anyone as he kills himself. A stab to his own heart is a stab to theirs or something like that. It made him dangerous. In a way it was like Shikamaru's shadow jutsu. Sakura didn't want Hinata or Tenten to face that Sadist, thus she had to just beat Deidara. Kakashi was doing his best against Tobi, while she could see briefly Hinata and Tenten were holing their own against Kakazu.

Sakura wasn't sure how much time had passed before she realized the rouge nin had left, obviously seeing no point in fighting them when Akatsuki had the upper hand, which made Sakura glad they left because if she killed Deidara, and Hina and Tenten killed Kakazu then they could run and then maybe Kakashi would survive, maybe she would be the only one who had to die. It was a hope, one that most likely would not happen, but it was nice to think about.

Sakura needed an opening. She found one and went for it while he was digging out more clay. She could tell he was running short. She took her chance and landed a hit to the side of his head. Said head caved in with her incredible strength and the clay bird he was riding on suddenly dropped as his body did to the ground. Blood covered her clothes as well as brain matter. She shouted out that Deidara was dead, unable to even hear herself shout it, she could hear nothing but the sound of her own heart beat as she looked back to see Kakashi get hit with a kunai in the shoulder.

She could see Hinata screaming something out, but she couldn't hear her. Sakura looked around for Tenten and couldn't find her for a terrifying second before she found her ending Kakazu's life. Kakashi was wounded, Hinata was bleeding from somewhere, she was covered in blood. Tenten had several wounds thought none looked as if she would die that second. Hidan had completed his circle, and Sakura shouted at Tenten and Hinata to run, because Tenten looked as if she were trying to, or going to start a fight with Hidan now.

Obviously they didn't hear her because Tenten and Hinata were rushing toward Hidan. Sakura screamed a stop and with the last note of the word her hearing came back in time to hear everything stop.

Tenten and Hinata skidded to a Halt Kakashi didn't look her way still in battle, but he did show he was paying attention. Hidan looked at her in amusement.

" Get the hell out of here back to Konoha!" Sakura yelled running to the two woman. Hidan didn't move because he was to stay in his circle yards away from the two. Sakura grabbed a hold of Hinata's shoulder pushing chakra into her to heal the wound bleeding on her side. The wound closed just as Tenten and Hinata refused to leave them alone.

" Get to Konoha. We lost one already don't make it more." Sakura said her jade eyes haunted as she stared at the two girls.

" You have people waiting for you back home, don't make them wonder where you are, what happened get home now. We will take care of this. I promise." it was words you never said when in the field because you can never promise, because most likely you will never be able to keep that promise.

Hinata shook her head, Tenten understood.

" Sakura-chan I can't leave you and Kakashi-sensei here!" She shouted obviously her hearing was broken up as well as Sakura's from the bombs. Both girls looked exhausted. Sakura knew the would not win a fight against another Akatsuki. She made the split decision for them. If anyone would die here it would be one not all of them. Sakura shook Hinata.

" Go now. That's an order." Hinata glared at her and Tenten pulled Hinata away. Hinata started fighting to stay, while Tenten tried to pull her to safety. Tenten knew what was going on, and perhaps Hinata understood as well. Tenten knew it would be best to do as told, while Hinata had spent a little to much time with Naruto. It made her smile slightly.

" Come on bitch I'm not going to wait all day." Hidan taunted. He liked playing with his victims. Damn sadist.

" Don't do this Sakura-chan!" Hinata yelled as Tenten and she reached the edge of the trees. Tenten jerked and then they were gone. For the better. She heard Kakashi whisper a thank kami, before her hearing went again. She cursed Deidara and his damn bombs. She had no extra time, nor chakra to heal her own ears. She rather not listen to Hidan's cursing anyway.

So this was the end for her. She had to find a way to kill the Immortal while Kakashi went Sharingan against Sharingan while wounded. He was bleeding down his arm, too much blood. Sakura could barely feel her own pain, and wounds. She was numb with what she was going to do, with what was to come.

She hoped Kakashi would flee as well if he won against Tobi, hopefully he knew himself that he couldn't fight Hidan is she went down. He would hopefully run while she held the idiot's attention. Yet Sakura knew Kakashi would never leave her.

Her fight began but her mind went else where, maybe because she was going into shock, or maybe because she had used too much chakra, or perhaps just because she knew this was the end of the line, she was fighting just to give Kakashi time. She had many regrets, one being that she couldn't save Kakashi's life as she had Tenten and Hinata.

She regretted that she would never see Naruto become Hokage as he always said he would. She regretted that she would never seen Shikamaru marry Temari, or Ino marry Chouji, or Naruto marry Hinata, or Tenten marry Neji. She regretted never being able to see their children, never having her own. She regretted not knowing what it felt like to be loved in return. She had fallen in love, she had her first kiss, she's not a virgin, but she never had much experience with love, because she was afraid to get hurt after Sasuke.

She regretted waiting for him. She regretted loving him, and she regretted not being around when he would finally realize his revenge was a fools errand, she would regret not seeing him crawl back to Kohona begging for them to take him back. She regretted not being able to tell that damn Uchiha where he could stick his revenge, and where he could stick his damn _Thank you_.

She regretted many things, she had wanted many things. To protect her friends. She had at least done that on a small level by protecting Tenten and Hinata. She wanted to make Tsunade stop drinking, wanted to give her a reason to stop drinking. Sakura wanted to make Konoha a better place. She wanted to get rid of the corrupt elders, she wanted to make people want to be a Kunoichi, a Shinobi, she wanted to stop pointless wars, and wasteful deaths.

She wanted to hear the laughter of her friends again. She wanted to hear the laughter of their children, and their children children. She wanted to hear Sasuke laugh. Damn... even now she thought back to that moron. Damn him. Damn him. Damn him. Even now.

Well she guessed it was alright. She could at least say she tried. It wasn't good enough in the least, but she did try. She tired to be normal, she tried to love, she tried to be happy, she tried to protect them, she tried to make him happy, she tried to make them proud, she tried to help him, she tried, and failed.

She saw out of the corner of her eyes Tobi stab Kakashi in the chest with a kunai at the same moment Kakashi cut his throat. The mask fell off revealing a pale man the Sharingan and a pained look across his face as he held weak hands to his throat as blood seeped out. His hands stopped fumbling and then went slack as his eyes emptied.

Kakashi fell his to knees he glanced at her with a almost half smile and then closed his eyes and looked to pass out. She frowned at the amount of blood she saw. Of course paying attention to Kakashi had only made it worse for her as she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest as well, she looked up to see Hidan with a blade through his own chest as blood stained her shirt at the chest. She jerked her hands up to the wound as she went to her knees as Kakashi did.

She didn't close her eyes but he body went weak, and cold. She fell back into the wet dirt, wet with her own blood. She stared up at the midnight sky and could feel pain. Pain like needles, thousands of needles being jabbed into her over and over. She had no chakra left. She couldn't heal herself.

Kakashi could be dead or alive, she didn't know. She lay with her hands at her sides slack. Her eyes watching the stars over head. Hearing nothing but the sound of her heart beat thumping almost painfully as she bleed out, as it tried to pump blood that was leaving her body through her body.

Hidan's face was suddenly over hers. He sneered at her, she couldn't hear what he said but he was sure it was some more cursing and insults. He suddenly stiffened and looked annoyed as he turned to look at something she couldn't see. Something she couldn't hear, and something she couldn't care about.

The world was going dark, but the pain didn't lessen. Several moments had passed and it went slowly, as if each heartbeat were an hour in time, as if each thump of her heart was years away as she stared up at the sky wondering if Tenten and Neji would have two or three kids, if Naruto would become Hokage, if he would have ten kids who looked like him or Hinata. She wondered these things. She was going to die, she knew.

She couldn't even put up the effort to have her life flash before her eyes, it wasn't a good life full of heartbreak, pain, sorrow, weakness, and anguish. She had gotten stronger, had joined ANBU and yet she would still die a death that accomplished little. Hidan was still alive even though three Akatsuki were now dead.

She couldn't much care about her own life when she was thinking about her friends, thinking about their beautiful family she would never see. Their happiness she would never know, their laughter she would never hear. She was almost happy she would never see their pain. She was worried Kakashi would die here like she would. She was worried that her life had been for nothing.

Hidan left her line of sight, but she couldn't care, she was thankful she didn't have to look at him, she much rather look at the stars as she died, but unfortunately it seemed fate rather her see clouds instead. She had at least got to look at them for a little bit. Then it started to pour. Of course. It figured she would die in the rain, at least it would hide her tears.

Her eye sight was darkened, and she felt as if she would lose consciousness any moment, but she knew it wasn't a consciousness she would ever wake from. It was a death, painful, and slow.

Someone else peered down at her with Sharingan eyes. It figured Itachi would come now. It was almost amusing that she would die in front of him. Him the person who took everything from Sasuke, and in effect everything from her.

But then he blocked the rain from falling into her face and she realized it wasn't Itachi at all but Sasuke. She had forgot he had been said to have joined Akatsuki. Oh so it was more ironic after all. She would die in front of the man who crushed her future. That was to be expected, her life had always went that way.

Sasuke and Naruto envied her parents, but her parents had died shortly after she turned sixteen, she knew how it felt to be alone, she knew what Naruto felt, what Sasuke felt. She knew what it was like to be alone, not just from her parents death, but with Naruto training, with him and Hinata getting together. With Sasuke off on revenge. With Kakashi and his Icha Icha. With Sai back in Root. She _was_ alone.

She had been lost in thought to suddenly realize Sasuke was shouting something at her. She couldn't hear anything but her heartbeat, and then her slapped her and her ears popped and sound came roaring back. The sound of Hidan cursing because a 'little Uchiha shit' interrupted his sacrifice. She could hear the sound of the rain crashing against Sasuke's back and most of her own body, and the ground. She could hear faint breathing, which she hopped was Kakashi. And she could hear Sasuke saying her name in a soft whisper.

It didn't matter now. She could hear but she felt herself falling into darkness. Her vision went dark seeing Sasuke's eyes filled with pain and surprisingly tears. His face terrified. Then everything went dark and then it went silent. She smiled and said the only things she could at the moment and then it went dark, and she went limp in Sasuke's arms.

Sasuke went stiff as he heard her speak, knowing there was nothing he could do to save her. He knew nothing of medical jutsu and if he moved her it would kill her faster, he had only got here in time to watch her die. Her words were barely audible. But he knew what she had said and tears dropped onto her cheeks as her jade eyes emptied of life. She said two words as she died. Two words to him, that he deserved because he knew, now, what it had to feel like when he said them to her.

_Thank you._

_**XXXX **_

**End:**

**Yep I went there and yep I ended it there. Hope you liked the one-shot. I may write a epilogue but I doubt it. **

**Okay your all wondering why I killed Sakura off, why I made Akatsuki the made guys for once instead of Sakura joining them, or the such. Well I wasn't in the mood and I figured this would be most likely how it ever went down. **

**I know Deidara was dead before hand, Kakazu was probably as well. Don't blame me for the crappy action scenes Action isn't mu expertise after all. Sorry about the lack of Knowledge about Hidan, Tobi, and Kakazu's jutsu. I at least knew Deidara's lol. I think I did pretty well for getting all the knowledge I have from random sights, fanfic, and a few episodes of Shippuden lol.**

**Anyway if you have questions send them my way, if not then review and tell me what you thought about this fic. I know it's not a usual type of fic from me, but I was in this sort of mood and figured what the hell might as well mix things up.**

**I love Sakura don't get me wrong, I only had her die because It was the way this idea went sorry.**

**I think this turned out pretty darn well considering sad is how I like to write, because I can write romance, but my humor is lacking. Few people understand my sense of humor. So tell me what you think, if I should have just stuck with Romance or what.**

**Yes the title is ironically poetic if you understand it then tell me if not then keep wondering lol.**

**~~Kyo~~**


End file.
